Saturday, December 7, 2013

Don't crack open the door to the devil

The Vine Dresser and the Fig Tree by Tissot (photo credit: Wikimedia Commons).

Ever have days when you feel as if you are trudging through deep water?
And you wish the day would hurry up and be finished already?

Well, it happens to me. Over the years, I've learned to recognize the
patterns of thought that bring it about and how Satan uses it to oppress
me. As aware as I am of what brings about the oppression on these days I
have to admit that I sometimes wallow in it for a while.

Call it self-pity if you will.

Let's use insomnia as an example since this is a problem for a number of
people, including me. I'll have a sleepless night and feel "foggy",
tired, and irritable by 7:00 in the morning. Since we are physical as
well as spiritual beings, in prances "Old Slewfoot" determined to get a
foothold into my day.

And it always starts with the mind.

If you can overcome these attacks quickly you have a good chance of
having a smooth day. If you don't put them down quickly? Well, things
will probably just spiral downwards from there.

Usually I am the one who starts the mess with an internal dialogue that might go something like this:

"Oh, how am I going to get through the day? I'm exhausted and of course it's a work day!" (You can fill in things other than work - the point is that we sometimes set ourselves up for bad days.)

"Why can't I sleep normally like other people? Great, just great! I
really needed a good night's sleep, too. Oh well! Another day of walking
around in a daze I guess!" (I say this to myself but sometimes secretly
wonder if I'm really announcing my displeasure to God. After all, I
already know I'm tired so there would be no point in mentioning it to
myself, right? Think along the lines of telling others all about your
exhaustion to elicit sympathy from them...lol)

If I let thoughts like these fester instead of ripping them out I can almost guarantee that they will get worse:

"I look haggard! Sheesh! Look at those dark circles! And to top it off my head is pounding. I can't go to work like this!"